{"slug":"hsi-killing-ruben-ray-martinez-concealed","title":"HSI Agent Kills US Citizen Ruben Ray Martinez on South Padre Island; Federal Role Undisclosed for 11 Months","date":"2025-03-15","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"On March 15, 2025, Homeland Security Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old US citizen from San Antonio, at a traffic-control point on South Padre Island, Texas, firing three rounds through the driver's window. ICE records said the driver 'intentionally ran over' an agent. The death was reported locally without identifying federal involvement until ICE records obtained by American Oversight surfaced in February 2026. Body-camera video released in March 2026 shows the car 'barely moving'. A grand jury declined to charge Stevens.","summary":"A federal immigration agent shot a 23-year-old American citizen through his car window at a South Padre Island traffic point. DHS said he deliberately ran over an agent; police body-camera video and the passenger's account describe a car barely moving. The federal role came out only through a records request 11 months later, and a grand jury declined to indict.","category":"extrajudicial-killing","severity":"severe","ongoing":true,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.newsweek.com/ice-agent-fatally-shot-us-citizen-texas-dhs-records-11544225","title":"ICE agent fatally shot US citizen in Texas, DHS records show","publisher":"Newsweek"},{"url":"https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/new-video-questions-dhs-account-of-fatal-shooting-by-immigration-agent","title":"New video questions DHS account of fatal shooting by immigration agent","publisher":"Scripps News"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["HSI","ICE","extrajudicial killing","US citizen","South Padre Island","Texas","transparency"],"relatedEntries":["houston-ice-killing-lorenzo-salgado-araujo","ice-killing-renee-good","ice-killing-alex-pretti","ice-killing-silverio-villegas-gonzalez"],"timeline":[{"date":"2025-03-15","title":"Ruben Ray Martinez shot dead","summary":"HSI Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens fires three shots through the driver's window of Martinez's car at a traffic-control point on South Padre Island; Martinez dies (Newsweek; Scripps News)."},{"date":"2026-02-18","title":"Federal involvement surfaces","summary":"Newsweek reports ICE records, obtained by American Oversight through FOIA, showing an HSI agent killed Martinez; his death had been reported locally without identifying federal involvement."},{"date":"2026-02-21","title":"Passenger witness dies","summary":"Joshua Orta, the passenger in Martinez's car, who told investigators the car was 'just slowly moving' when agents fired, dies in an unrelated car crash in San Antonio (Scripps News)."},{"date":"2026-03-06","title":"Body-camera footage released; grand jury had declined charges","summary":"Hours of police body-camera footage and records are released after public records requests. Scripps News reports that a grand jury declined to charge Stevens the previous week and the Texas Rangers closed their investigation."}],"location":{"name":"South Padre Island, Texas"},"custom":{"era":"second-term","posture":"reported","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 6","provision":"Right to life; no arbitrary deprivation of life; duty to conduct prompt, independent and transparent investigations of potentially unlawful killings"},{"statute":"UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials","article":"Principle 9","provision":"Intentional lethal use of firearms only when strictly unavoidable to protect life (soft-law standard)"}],"iccRelevance":false,"civilianCasualties":1,"victims":"Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, a US citizen from San Antonio. Lawyers for his mother, Rachel Reyes, say the evidence 'shows no justification for Ruben's killing' (Scripps News).","perpetrators":"HSI Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens (shooter); DHS/ICE (public account and non-disclosure of federal involvement)","structuredVictims":[{"name":"Ruben Ray Martinez","nationality":"American","status":"killed","count":1}],"structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Jack Stevens","role":"HSI Supervisory Special Agent; fired the fatal shots","institution":"Homeland Security Investigations (ICE)"}],"keyPoints":["Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, a US citizen from San Antonio, was shot at about 12:40 a.m. on March 15, 2025 at Padre Boulevard and Marlin Street, where HSI agents were helping local police with traffic control at an accident scene (Newsweek).","ICE's account: the driver 'failed to follow instructions,' then 'accelerated forward, striking a HSI special agent,' and another agent 'discharged multiple rounds at the driver through the open driver's side window.' DHS said the driver 'intentionally ran over' an agent (Newsweek).","Martinez's death was reported locally in 2025 without identifying federal involvement; ICE records obtained by American Oversight through FOIA surfaced it in February 2026 (Newsweek).","The shooter was HSI Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens, who fired three rounds (Scripps News).","South Padre police body-camera footage, released in March 2026 after records requests by AP and other outlets, shows the vehicle 'barely moving.' Passenger Joshua Orta told investigators: 'It was just slowly moving and they started shooting' (Scripps News).","Orta died in an unrelated car crash in San Antonio on February 21, 2026. A grand jury declined to charge Stevens in late February or early March 2026, and the Texas Rangers closed their investigation; DHS said it 'stands by the grand jury's unanimous decision that found no criminality' (Scripps News)."],"searchAliases":["Ruben Ray Martinez","South Padre Island shooting","Jack Stevens HSI"],"legalBasis":"Fourth Amendment (excessive force); ICCPR Article 6 (arbitrary deprivation of life; procedural duty to investigate transparently); UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms (soft law).","postureNote":"A grand jury declined to indict and the Texas Rangers closed their investigation. Scripps News reports that Martinez's blood alcohol level was 0.12%, above Texas's 0.08% limit; that bears on his driving, not on whether lethal force was necessary. That is a decision not to prosecute, not a finding that the force was lawful; grand jury proceedings are secret. The key eyewitness died before the footage was released. The record rests on ICE's own incident reports (via American Oversight and Newsweek), released police body-camera video and the passenger's statement to investigators (Scripps News). Exact dates of the grand jury decision and the footage release are inferred from Scripps News's article of March 7, 2026, which refers to 'last week' and 'Friday'.","relatedIncidents":["houston-ice-killing-lorenzo-salgado-araujo","ice-killing-renee-good","ice-killing-alex-pretti","ice-killing-silverio-villegas-gonzalez"]}}